Writers and writing

Doris Lessing (1919 – 2013) “was a British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing (1950), the sequence of five novels collectively called Children of Violence (1952–69), The Golden Notebook (1962),” [and others]. Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature… the eleventh woman and […]

One movie based on a story by Philip Pullman is “The Golden Compass,” with a talented cast including Dakota Blue Richards (photo), Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman and others. On his site, he addresses a number of questions about his life and work as a writer: Were you encouraged to be creative? No, I was ignored. When […]

Amy Tan comments: “I think I was pushed in a way to write this book (“The Hundred Secret Senses”) by certain spirits in my life. They’ve always been there.. to kick me in the ass to write…. “I know that this subject is fodder for ridicule…. But ultimately, I have to write what I have […]

Karen Moncrieff – from actor to screenwriter Karen Moncrieff worked for ten years as an actor, then became a screenwriter. In a Writers Guild magazine article, she notes “Writing felt so comfortable in a way that acting never really did. With writing, I was using all parts of myself, all of my skills.” She wrote […]

Author Janet Fitch is also a Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. She comments about her experiences as a writer: “Anytime you work with materials that are deep parts of yourself, you feel revulsion at showing things about yourself that you don’t want people to know. “White […]